News

Well, I’m learning lessons every day, though not all of them are new ones. Here are some news snippets of what has happened since the last time I posted.

Peter Dexter was very sick and didn’t make it. He was acting off, so he went to the vet, and then the morning after, he was unable to stand up. So, alas, yesterday, our beloved African goat died. The Kennell’s guardian, Joseph, came and took him away from the school so we didn’t have to deal with it yesterday during school. Joseph also buried PD for us... I’m not sure what we would have done if he hadn’t done that for us.

School is going well- I’m dealing with some strong-willed children, so there are some challenges, but overall, I love teaching the 4th graders! At the end of school every day, after we have hustled the kids out the gate, I collapse on the futon usually with the other teachers and we lay there and decide what we’re going to do for the rest of the time we have until our next activity. Last night, we had some time before we went to the Hangen household for dinner, and we decided to spend that time walking to the mini-market close to our house to get more credit for the cell phone Becky got for us (Thanks again, Becky!) and bananas. We also stopped by Sante Plus, the pharmacy closest to us, to get more malaria medicine. I got two boxes of doxycycline- I’m going to try it for a couple of weeks.

Fun random story: when we were standing in line at Sante Plus, a very well-dressed man driving a very nice vehicle came in to get something. As he came in and stood in line behind us, I caught a whiff of him (which, I know, sounds so strange). He smelled SO GOOD!!! He was wearing cologne, maybe a bit too much (or maybe my nose is just super sensitive to those kinds of smells now), but it was one of the best smells I’ve smelled since I got here. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like it always smells bad here, but I’m not spraying extra good smelly stuff on myself, in hopes of convincing the bugs to leave me alone. So, that quick smell of that man’s cologne was wonderful... it’s the little things in life, right?

We started Meet the Robinsons yesterday, which is, I’ve decided, the epitome of my humor. I love that movie- I recommend it for everyone, because it’s clean, clever, adorable, and it has a fantastic message!

Matt picked us up, and we went to his and Grace’s house for calzones and The Office (this season! I can stay caught up with the lives of Jim and Pam from Togo, who woulda thought?!?!), and good (always significant) conversation. Matt Hangen doesn’t mess around when he wants to talk about theology or social issues or anything else huge, for that matter, and we’re learning that he doesn’t often NOT want to talk about those things! It’s good though- I need to learn more than I know, and Matt is a smart, great guy with lots of experience in lots of different areas of some of those issues. And you can’t beat The Office towards the end of a long school week- thank you TBS for the break.

This morning, I woke up grumpy, which meant I snapped, which meant I had some apologizing to do to my beautiful housemates. The things I said were things I needed to say, but I didn’t say them in a way I needed to say them. The interesting part of living here in Togo is that my social circle is quite limited. I went from living at Harding University with a million friends, to Kara, Togo, West Africa, where I live with three girls my age, work with eight kids who are school age, spend a good amount of time with four toddlers, socialize with ten missionaries on my team and eight people on the other team in town... it’s a little different. I love it. It’s great. Relationships will get deeper than they ever could back at glorious Harding. But still, I have some adjusting to do. Just thought I would be honest about it.

We had our fourth dance class tonight! It was great- I hope to break from my instruction for long enough to take some pictures soon.

In other news: we had pizza at the Miller homestead, school is out for the week, we’re going swimming on Monday, we have a future Settlers of Catan party almost scheduled, my toenails are pink, and life is really beautiful. 

I’m thinking about and missing all of you. Love.